Tokyo Cafes: Mighty Steps Coffee Stop

A review of an independent cafe, Mighty Steps Coffee Stop, in Nihonbashi, Central Tokyo. Notes are by an amateur coffee enthusiast and shoestring digital nomad. Descriptions are equal parts coffee and remote-work suitability. Most photos are shot with a second-hand Fujifilm X100.

Single origin roasts available — Photo by Athena Lam

Cafe Overview:

Mighty Steps Coffee Stop is in central Nihonbashi, close to Mitsukoshi — Photo by Athena Lam

When people say Nihonbashi, one doesn’t think of cafes: office-workers, yes; department stores, plenty. For history buffs, Nihonbashi has significance as the origin of Edo Tokyo’s official trade routes. That is all to say, how can independent coffee shops survive? Well, survive one of them does. Mighty Steps Coffee Stop has been around since the summer of 2014.

Espresso machine for lattes — Photo by Athena Lam

The founder, Ishii-san, got interested in coffee after meeting the founder of ARiSE Coffee Roasters. The concept of Mighty Steps is to make coffee accessible to anyone in any way – take out or dine-in, with ice cream and milk or single-origin and black.

Single origin pour-over and espresso options available — Photo by Athena Lam

Being full from lunch, I ordered a black coffee to help digest while settling in for a few hours of remote work. Two plugs are by the window and two more are by the back wall with counter seats. The row of seats along the wall are lounge-sofas with individual coffee side tables. The baristas were understanding of my plugging in my laptop, pocket wi-fi and phone to set up my workstation for the entire afternoon. Wi-Fi is also available.

The cafe is remote-work friendly with Wi-Fi and plugs — Photo by Athena Lam

The cafe is quite small, but many of the groups that drop by end up getting take-out. I think finding a seat for one person on a weekday shouldn’t be a problem.

Also, if you order an ice cream and coffee, the drink and snack will come together on a delightful tray. As it was, I enjoyed my single origin roast. Admittedly, I got too caught up in work and allowed it to go cold before finishing, which made it no less enjoyable!

Seats about 10 people — Photo by Athena Lam

Their Story / What I like About Them:

The cafe is meant to give a boutique hotel lobby ambience — Photo by Athena Lam

Although I didn’t meet Ishii-san, interviews say that he had envisioned the cafe to feel like the lobby of a boutique hotel. The mixture of exposed brick and high wooden rafters makes the cafe space a welcome revitalization of the older free-standing house it sits in. The back counter feels like a workshop with its coffee-related tools hanging and free-standing.

— Photo by Athena Lam

All in all, I would definitely come here again for a focused space to work.